Stef Loy's Lamentations of Ecstasy is an album that strives to be too many things--alt rock, electronica, acoustic, retro. Loy's mix of these genres sounds like just that--a mix disc.
After a negligible, disjointed electronic noise/piano loop ("p.rev01"), Loy, formerly of The Miscellaneous, lays into a very Terry Scott Taylor/DA alt rocker, "The Gospel According to St. John's Wort." The DA overtones of this song are hard to escape--the vocal stylings and social commentary lyrics: "Shortcut dot com, get me thru this life a little quicker...Cyber Jesus save me as I'm only growing older."
The rest of the album flip flops between several styles and moods. Loy continues to show his heavy Daniel Amos influence with several other Taylor-saturated tracks ("Moonstruck," "Burn Baby" and "Habitat"). A few other songs ("Ash" and "Kiss Toward") display Loy's uncanny knack for capturing The Violet Burning's heavy sound. Loy's vocals even sound identical to VB's Michael Pritzl in tone and delivery.
Flipping between two personalities would be uncomfortable enough, but Loy pushes the envelope by inserting a couple of electronica tunes. During "The Weight of Grace," Loy delivers his own robot impersonation via strange electronic vocal distortions: "Think of this streaming data text as a kind of movie about search engines...." Huh? The flanger electronic beat is then overridden by an '80s sci-fi TV theme synthesizer powered by a fantastic (but wasted) deep, reggae-like bass line. The song seems disjointed--like something that would play from Korben Dallas' taxi cab radio in the movie The Fifth Element--compared to the roots rock openers.
"Snow White" is the album's highlight track, if only for its uniqueness. Beginning with a surprisingly not cheesy retro electronic piano, the song rises above a subtle electronic beat and a lush, synthetic symphony. Loy alone with his piano is a welcome sound. His vocals are quite extraordinary as he drifts in and out of falsetto; not an easy task for any singer. The lyrics center around the glowing, "snow white" grace that is Jesus' love.
Loy quickly shifts from a showcase song to a "where did this come from?" track, "Long Rd.," which sounds like it came from the last Poe record--heavy beat, electronic soundbytes, heavy bass groove, laid-back, in-and-out vocals.
With "Icebox Heart," Loy thankfully leaves his obvious influences behind. Loy alone--either with his acoustic guitar or piano--is engaging. "Icebox Heart" takes a step away from the cookie-cutter genres and really displays Loy's gifts. His vocals, when laid bare, are passionate, gritty and pleasing. His full, beautiful acoustic guitar is front and center, as it should be. Nice track.
The closing track (well, there's another negligible electronic loop ender), "2002NTZ," features a great beat (akin to Bjork's "Human Behavior"); unfortunately, Loy's spoken-word delivery of Psalm 23 comes off like a bad poetry reading.
This is an album that needs direction.
2.5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2002Reviewed by Alex Klages"Shortcut dot com get me thru this life a little quicker..." Stef Loy's lyrics, as the lead singer for the group The Miscellaneous, always had a quirky, pop-cultural bite to them. His new solo album continues that trend. The above quote, the first words heard on the album (from the track "The Gospel According to St. John's Wort") indicate that Loy has lost none of his facility for satirizing the…Similar sounding releases
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